Baby E!!

 New Baby

New Family!!

Love you guys!!

Happy New Year!!

Here is the family picture I promised you!!

Happy New Year!! 

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Merry Christmas ya'll!! I was going to write a detailed post on what we've done all year long, but then realized  that we've done pretty much the same things this year as every other year! (not really... sorta kinda :)
We've had a great year though!
Going to the MISpeedway, bike rides, friends, trips to Megan and Elijah's, "pottery," (is that even a word? basically we painted stuff and they baked them and it came out cool.)  playing lots of Euchre, watching fireworks, jumping on neighbors trampoline, campfires, hunting, trapping, fishing, lots of music..
you know, just name a few things. ;)

Dad and Mom's 24th anniversary

 Daniel has super powers. 

 Lots of friends!!

 Fireworks!

Dad getting ready for 2014. (Thanks Anna!!)  

 Making sugar cookies

I got to hold a newborn baby!!!!!!!!!

 At the candy factory

 With friends

Dad loves skyline!

And, to top it all off, here's a delicious splash for you.

Merry Christmas!


(And I promise we'll get some family pictures this week and I'll post them!)

Love, Emily

Happy Thansgiving!!!!

We went down to Megan and Elijah's house for a week the beginning of November, and had lots of fun!!  Right before we left Benny broke his finger and Mom broke her foot. And Lydia brought all her therapy exercises along with her.

I got to tag along with Megan at her school (which was a lot of fun!) and when we got back, I asked Lydia what she had been doing that morning. She answered "drinking milk, little-ly, playing with the cats, most-ly" 

I laughed. :)

Mom mudded some drywall, and we just hung out and had fun! 

We went to Megan's choir concert, she did awesome!!!

Here are some pictures

I forgot to get pictures of their house projects (in fact, I didn't take very many pictures there at all... :(

But, there is one of the cat. ;) 

 The cats are very cute! 

 When we got home, the boys raked leaves, and the girls got to jump in them! 

 It was a pretty good arrangement...

 She wanted me to bury her in leaves

 And it was fun untill she got a leaf in her mouth

 This one (below) is my favorite!!  

 Being goofy

I love fall and winter!!
Especially since its hunting season!!!!
And, speaking of hunting season, Joey got his first buck. Matthew got a buck. And I (Emily) got a doe.
So the hunting season is started with a bang. (literally)

(Except that those three deer were all killed with a crossbow...Hmmm????)    ;)

I made a batch of blueberry muffins for a hunting trip and when Lydia ate one she said, "Friend, that was a perfect muffin!"

We have some concerts and recitals coming up, plus the usual holiday busy-ness!!

Hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving, praising the Lord!


Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom,
singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
Colossians 3:16

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His steadfast love endures forever!
1 Chronicles 16:34

NOVEMBER????

Since it's november, I might as well post about september... :)

We had Lydia's, mine (Emily), and  Elijah's birthday's in september. It was a very fun month! 

Lydia turned 6! 

 She had her cast on, in case you didn't notice. 

;) 

I turned 15! 

  

A good friend came up to visit, and we had her take pictures for us! 

(and some with us!) 

Elijah turned 25 in september, I am sadly lacking pictures of the happy couple. :(

 And Daniel turned 17 in october, and in case you can't read the ice cream boxes, 

his "theme" was chocolate! 

I shall have more picture's of him later. :)

Have an awesome day everyone!! 

"Mom! Watch me!"

September 18th, 2013.  Her famous last words that continue to ring in my ears.  Just before she started off on the monkey bars on our swing set, she lost her grip and fell just a few short feet.  Then she looked at me like she couldn't get up, so I ran to help her and saw that her right arm was a complete 90 degree angle the wrong way.  Without even thinking, I just popped it back to normal thinking 'Well that's wrong!  We can't have that!' I helped her up and ran to grab my purse to take her to the emergency room.
Jeff was shooting arrows and cross bows with the older kids.  And I didn't want to explain in front of everyone how bad it was.  So when I announced that we needed to go to the ER, he was a bit surprised.  "Karen, calm down, she just fell off the swing set."  Um, yeah, we need to go! ;0)
They called in the orthopedic surgeon and he wouldn't touch it with her growth plate and severity of the break, so they stabilized her arm and sent us on to U of M.  In a hurry because there was a chance they would do surgery that night, we called the kids and had them pack us a bag we could swing by and pick up, and left for Motts Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.
The ride was pleasant.  Her arm was stable, she had some Motrin and we called and talked to Megan.  She reminded Lydia of the time she had stitches and we got some grape soda after it was over.  So she already had something to look forward to!  The kids packed a DVD player and she watched a movie.
Upon arrival there was already 2 other kids with broken elbows from swing sets.  They did x-rays and gave her an IV and said it was one of the worst breaks they have seen.  She needed surgery and they tried to get her in that night, but would have to wait until morning.  All I could think of is that she didn't eat much dinner, so they gave her some apple juice.
They tried to give her stickers, but she politely said "no thank you."  And I explained that she just didn't recognize any of the characters because we don't watch TV.  So they mentioned that they have dogs and kitties?  "Kitties?" ;0)  She perked right up!  Megan and Elijah got 2 kittens and she loves them terribly.  So they piled on the kitties!  Stuffed animal, a ceramic bank that she could paint with her good hand, and lots of stickers!
They put her in a hard cast and about 3 a.m. she had enough stronger pain relievers that she was comfortable and could sleep and they moved us to a private room to be for the night.  Surgery was scheduled for 11:15, she never did complain about being hungry.
They came in every 30 minutes or less to check her circulation and pulse.  Did Doppler tests to confirm circulation.  My adrenaline was high so I didn't sleep a bit.
We talked to the kids in the morning and prepped for surgery.  And she already got some balloons to play with!
They weren't going to take her from us unless she was asleep, which I was thankful for, but it took 3 doses of versed and she still was wide awake, making sure I was close by.  So the anesthesiologist waved his white flag and allowed me to suit up and go in with her.  I put it on, walked several minutes to the operating room and she was still wide awake until they put her out.
Jeff and I went to get a bite to eat, which was really hard because at this point I'm just weepy.  I run into one of my pediatric heart doctors, weird.  And finally, we are talking with the doctor again.  Usually they can fix it with 2 pins, but she needed 3.  She had a hard cast on that was split for swelling and would soon get a hard permanent one the following week.  That was it, she could go home later that afternoon!  Eeeesh!
She woke up and had her pop-cycles and seemed somewhat comfortable.  From the beginning they would ask what her pain level is and show her the 1-10 chart with all their faces and she always said it was a 4, never higher than a 4.
They made a necklace with her name written real fancy on it and gave her a bead for everything she had done.  A glow in the dark bead for an x-ray, a favorite nurse bead, having her birthday just 2 days away bead, IV, staying over night, every bead had a meaning and she got to add them to her necklace.
Just a few hours from surgery and they are preparing to send us home.  We had a couple hour drive so we tried to be a bit strategic in when we left (right after her pain medicine) and just gave her a few crackers to eat.
The medicine made her sleep all the way home and of course I joined her.  I woke up just a few miles from home.  The kids were so happy to see her and had balloons ready.  She was a bit hungry and we put her in the big corner chair so to make sure her elbow wouldn't be bumped.  She had to keep it propped above her heart so she had lots of pillows.
We didn't want her going up and down stairs from her room, medicated and unable to hold on or balance, so Jeff graciously went to our guest room.  And we shared sleepless nights trying to get comfortable.  A lot of them, like little to no sleep.  Jeff eventually moved the guest bed in our room just to be closer!  Love him!!

Psalm 34:20 "He keeps all His bones; not one of them is broken."  Interesting how Christ never experienced a broken bone.

Happy Hump Day

Hi Ya'll! 

Here are some pictures! 

The bonnet below I made

We went to watch my cousin's band play at a football game. There are 208 band members.

(It was huge.) 

Lydia's birthday was Saturday, so Wednesday I took her outback and snapped a few pictures

 Isn't she a doll? :) 

 Then, 4 hours later, she fell off the swing set, broke her arm, spent the night at U of M hospital, and 24 hours later she had 3 pins in her arm, a split cast to help the swelling, and lots of medicine. :) 

(That was the short version.) 

 (she was a leeetle medicated in the picture above. :) 

 2 days later it was her birthday. 

She choose a s'more cake. Chocolate cake, w/ marshmallow cream as frosting, crushed graham crackers, than melted chocolate frosting on top. YUM. 

She wanted mint as well, so the little candies are mints. 

So now she has a hard cast on, it is hot pink and bright yellow. 

I'll post pictures of that later.
Wednesday's have been very special at our house....because it's Hump Day!! :)
haha!
go to Daniel's blog to watch the video:
 http://daniel-kunkel.blogspot.com/2013/09/wednesday.html

Have a great day!! 

Emily

August

String festival. Campfires. Swimming. Friends. Singing. Race cars. Walks. Pictures. Painting. Tearing wallpaper. MISpeedway. Helping Megan and Elijah move. Music. Hammocks. Reading. Sewing. This is some of what we've been doing. Or mostly what I've been doing. :)
I was able to go to Hillsdale String Festival and play violin with a whole bunch of other middle and high school kids. It was a blast and I had soo much fun!!
We went down to Elijah and Megan's to help them move. They bought a beautiful house, but it needs a little fixin' up!  (These are lacking pictures.)
Tearing wallpaper and painting: we (our church, http://cbchillsdale.org/) bought a new building to meet in, so we completely redid the inside. And some of the outside too. The inside had bright red carpet, with shiny "foil" wallpaper. So the rooms almost "glowed" pink. :) But it is all redone now, due to LOTS of paint and McDonald's tea. (unsweet, of course. And fries and doughnuts and pizza and strawberry lemonade and cookies and chocolate and ............)    ;)

We went to the MISpeedway to watch the race cars practice. Everyone loved it! even though it was a little loud.

 I could sometime's get ok shots of the race cars. but sometime i'd get one like the one below. 

 (nothing!) :)

 The fastest car went 203 mph.

 And when we were closer, it was even harder to get a picture!

 Michigan has beautiful sunsets!

 And WATERMELON!!!!! Yummy!!

I'll have some more pictures later. We just got back from Covington, KY. visiting Megan and Elijah in their new house! we watched labor day fireworks, and went on a walk and played euchre. all of which was a lot of fun! Now we have started school, and I am keeing busy! Violin lessons, orchestra, and piano lessons are my favorites! :)  

~Emily